Archive for May, 2018

Kuching is over on the Borneo bit of Malaysia. It’s somewhere that Jen and I had been before to stay in a couple of the nearby national parks. Kubar national park was ok, but we didn’t see a lot of wildlife. I think the highlight was a grub that we spotted on the path as we hiked to a waterfall.

Bako national park is much better. We’d last stayed there a few months ago and the highlight of that trip was seeing a snake eating a lizard. We were walking on one of the trails near the camp and spotted the snake ahead of us. He was obviously engrossed in something and as we got close we realised that he was attempting to scoff a lizard.

I know you aren’t supposed to interfere in these things or even touch the wildlife, but I’ve always fancied myself as a bit of a Steve Irwin type. After all, messing around with the wildlife rarely did him any harm. I’d had a bit of success in catching a slow worm on the North Yorks moors last year and so I thought I’d catch this snake too.

I’ve no idea if the snake was venomous or not, even after a subsequent google search, but there was no way he was going to drop his dinner to give me a cautionary nip. On the other hand, his Dad might have been keeping an eye out for him and so I moved them from the path into the undergrowth and we watched him finish his lunch.

We stayed at Bako again this trip and whilst we didn’t see any snakes we did get up close to a few proboscis monkeys and plenty of macaques. The macaques are no big deal as I see them every morning driving to work but proboscis monkeys in the wild are a lot rarer.

There were also a few wild pigs knocking around. We watched one eating a particularly chewy looking octopus on the beach. The last time we were here I gave the pigs a drink of beer by tipping it down from the seating area outside of our hut, but by the time the pigs turned up on this visit I only had the one can left and there was no way they were getting that.

After a Saturday night in Bako we took the boat back along the coast to Kuching. Our flight wasn’t until the evening and so that gave us the opportunity of taking in a third tier game at the Negeri Stadium.

The taxi driver knew his stuff and in addition to taking us to the right place, he pointed out the rest of the stadia in the complex. There’s a new football stadium, although he reckoned that it rarely hosted games, a couple of practice pitches and stadiums for swimming and diving, hockey and basketball. I could probably live quite happily in Kuching, even if they didn’t have snakes, pigs or monkeys.

Whilst he knew all about the layout of the stadia complex, our taxi driver was less well-informed on the third division fixture list and he was concerned that we might have turned up for nothing. He very kindly collared someone who looked like he knew what he was doing to check that there was definitely a game taking place.

The bloke was a volunteer for the Kuching club and he took us in through the main entrance and up to the VIP Area. He advised us to sit in the press box, so that we could recharge our phones if we wished and he later sent someone up with a large electric fan for us. Perfect.

The Negeri Stadium seemed quite old. We were in the covered main stand. The rest of the ground comprised of a concrete open-ended horseshoe with a roof over the section opposite to us. I don’t think I saw anyone in any of the other stands.

The visitors, ATM, are the Malaysian Army team. I’ve no idea if the players are all serving soldiers or if they are allowed to draft a few ringers in. I was disappointed in their choice of kit, an unusual blue shirts with red shorts combo. They should wear camouflage or khaki kit really, unless it’s a cup final where they could turn out in something with plenty of braid on it.

Kuching were dressed up as Atletico Madrid.

As kick-off approached a few fans started to file in, most of them sitting to our right. There were probably about two hundred altogether. Whilst the majority seemed to be supporting the home side, most of the noise came from half a dozen military men, sat up at the back.

Both sides had early chances and it was the Army who took the lead after twenty minutes with a close range shot through a melee of defenders. Kuching had plenty of chances but ATM clinched the points with a second goal a quarter of an hour from the end.

As good as an evening at the baseball is, what I really wanted to see whilst in Taipei was a football game. One of my current ‘collectables’ is ‘countries where I’ve seen a football match’ and I still hadn’t added Taiwan to my list despite this being our third visit.

Last time around, I’d planned to see Taiwan Football Premier League team Royal Blues at the Taipei Stadium. However, in an ever more familiar tale of ground hopping woe, they switched the fixture to the other end of the island at short notice. We spent that afternoon jumping from one taxi to another or staring forlornly at empty pitches.

It initially seemed that my luck would be little better this trip as for some reason it was a blank weekend for the top-tier Football Premier League. My mood brightened though when I discovered what appeared to be the next league down, the On Tap Premier League. Even better, there was a fixture scheduled for the Sunday morning at the Fu Jen University Stadium.

It wasn’t the busiest of events and by the time the game kicked off there were just the six of us watching. Jen and I had the main (and only) stand to ourselves, whilst a couple sat picnicking with their young son who had just finished his football training. The crowd was completed by a bloke who may or may not have been sleeping rough and who was resting in the shade under a tree.

The Mighty Shane seemed like a bunch of English blokes. I’m going to guess ESL teachers. They had a classic Sunday league approach, getting changed by the side of the pitch and then rather impressively putting in a lap of the pitch for a warm up. To their credit, I didn’t see any of them throwing up the previous night’s excesses in the way that I remember from my George and Dragon days.

Japanese FC might well have been mainly Japanese. They warmed up by having a chat and in at least one case, a pre-match fag.

The game started a few minutes later than planned due to the last-minute arrival of a linesman. There wasn’t a lot of scheduling leeway though as the plastic pitch was being used again at 1pm and 3pm. One of the Mighty Shane subs strolled up just as the teams were lining up and bellowed instructions at everyone. Presumably “Set your alarm clock” wasn’t one of them. When the action got underway his favorite admonishment was that “We are too fucking quiet”.

I thought that the Mighty Shane were not nearly quiet enough, especially when some of them gave the ref a load of abuse. The Japanese players on the other hand were much quieter. I like that. They weren’t any more punctual though with one of their subs turning up a good ten minutes after kick-off. Not only was he late, but he’d brought a dog with him. Hopefully it knew the pitch was just for football.

The overall standard was generally pretty poor with most players looking like they were running in quicksand. If a player ever did manage to control the ball then he would invariably find the opposition with this next touch rather than a team-mate. It was a while before the Japanese team strung three consecutive passes together. I’m not sure that Mighty Shane ever did.

Much to the fury of the shouty bloke on the Mighty Shane bench, Japanese FC took the lead after about ten minutes with a neat finish from a cut-back. The quieter lads went on to double their lead with an unchallenged tap-in from a corner after twenty minutes.

“Come on!” the beaten keeper shouted at no-one in particular. “We are better than this”. I don’t think anyone really believed him though and it was no surprise when the not so Mighty Shane eventually succumbed to a four-one defeat.

The first weekend after returning from Europe we headed off to Taiwan. It’s more than four hours flying time from Kuala Lumpur, but that doesn’t seem such a big deal after the thirteen hour flights to and from London.

First up was the baseball game at the Xinzhuang stadium between the Brothers and the Guardians. It’s the home stadium of the Guardians but baseball for some reason, lists the away team first. We’d booked a hotel just around the corner and so had no more than a short walk to the ballpark. We spotted a few black squirrels scampering around that looked larger than the grey squirrels in the UK.

As we approached the ticket office I was still in two minds as to where to sit. My preference is usually for the free-seating outfield seats, the ‘bleachers’ as they are known in America. It’s mainly because I’m anti-social and want the option of sitting apart from my fellow spectators if they are making a nuisance of themselves. Although I’ve also an aversion to watching a game through a protective net and by sitting far enough away I can get an unobstructed, if somewhat distant, view.

However, it looked like rain was in the air and so I had to consider whether to go for something in the main stand that was undercover. In the end, my preference for being as far away from other people made the bleachers worth the risk and so we paid 250 dollars (six quid) each for outfield seats.

It turned out to be the right decision as the rain held off all evening. In fact, in hindsight, the cloud cover might have been smog rather than a potential downpour. We’d seen a fair bit of industry on the way in, which didn’t surprise me as when I was a kid it seemed as if everything made from plastic had been produced in Taiwan. So, bad for the lungs I suppose, but less need for an umbrella.

As I was unsure as to what refreshments would be available I brought a selection of beers in with me. Some of it was local, but I also played safe with stocks of a couple of Japanese beers. I usually plump for Asahi in these situations but on this occasion I supplemented the ‘Gold Medal’ Taiwan Beer with Kirin and Sapporo instead. I thought the local stuff tasted a little soapy, which I doubt very much is the flavour that they were striving for.

We’d selected our seats well as most of the visiting racket came from the section on the other side of the scoreboard. They had drums, a brass section and a megaphone or two. The singing section for the home fans was up to our left in the covered stand. Far enough away to be of minimal disturbance.

There were a few home fans near to us who piped up later in the game, but it was easy enough for us to shift along a block or two for a different and quieter vantage point.

The Brothers, who were wearing a mismatched grey kit that looked as if the trousers had been washed on a hot setting a lot more frequently than the shirts, took a 9-0 lead. There was a brief fight back from the Guardians that I thought might let them make a game of it, but in the end the Brothers ran out convincing 15-4 winners.

Jen and I were in the UK for a few days and staying in Sedgefield. There was a Friday afternoon race meeting on and as it was only a twenty minute walk away we had a stroll over.

We got there shortly before the first race and paid sixteen quid each to get into the grandstand section. It didn’t look as if the cheaper area in the centre of the circuit was open. I’ve been to Sedgefield before for evening and Saturday fixtures and there are usually a few families in there. Perhaps with this meeting being on a weekday and, I imagine, a lot of punters preferring to watch Aintree on the telly, it wasn’t worth them bothering opening it up.

Once inside it was clear that we’d picked a quiet day with probably no more than a couple of hundred attendees. That’s fine with me though, I can do without the crowds, particularly groups of people on the drink. My own drinking is fine, it’s just other people doing it that I don’t like.

I started with a pint of John Smith’s Smooth. It’s terrible stuff but there didn’t appear to be anything else. Fortunately I spotted some bottles of Wainwright’s Golden Ale in a fridge behind the bar. They were a lot more drinkable, with a hoppy, floral flavour. The barmaid apologised for the £5.10 price tag but it still struck me as better value than the John Smiths and would still have been even if they had been giving the Smooth away for free.

It wasn’t the best of weather with a hint of rain in the air and enough mist to make viewing of the far side of the course less than ideal. But, cold and damp trumps the hot and damp climate of Malaysia and I was more than happy to have to keep warm in a battered old Barbour that I’ve inherited from my Dad.

There were seven races, six over jumps and a bumper to finish, with another seven on the big screen from Aintree. We made a poor start to the betting but clawed it back over the course of the afternoon and went into the last race in the position where if our horse were to win then we’d have made a small profit and if it lost we’d go home a few quid down. It was second. Still a good day though.

I’d had plans whilst back in the UK to take in a Northern League fixture or two. However, stuff got in the way and so the only match I saw was the Boro’s home game against Forest.

There was a ‘fanzone’ outside the ground for this game. It was nothing like the fanzones that I’ve visited at World Cups, with just a small bar, a few umbrellas and not much else. Still, as Tom was in the South Stand whilst I was in the West Lower it meant we could have a pre-match Heineken outside of the Riverside. That’s a step in the right direction I suppose.

I’d chosen the West Lower just for a change. There aren’t any spare seats near Tom and, if the truth be known, I was happy to be in a part of the ground with a better view and a chance to sit down.

I suppose the main talking point was the return of Karanka. I noticed a Basque flag in among the Red Faction banners being waved before kick-off and I suppose that was probably for his benefit, although they might very well wave it every week.

Aitor kept a low profile until about ten minutes in when he got up and moved from the bench to the technical area. He seemed surprised and emotional at the applause that rang around the ground, followed by the singing of his name and then a request for a wave.

By that time Danny Ayala had already put us a goal up and half an hour in Stewie added a second. That was enough to beat a limited Forest side. I imagine Karanka will tighten them up at the back fairly sharpish but I wonder whether he will be able to develop them into a team that can recover from going behind. I hope so, but despite all his success in the Championship, he never really managed it with us.